Roller awning



J. l-L STONE ROLLER AwNING Aug 26 1924.

mnd nb. 1a, 1922 lill 0 8 2 imm W Patenten Aug. a5,

UNITED JOHN STONE, O23* BUFFA'L, 'NEVI ROLLER AWNNG.

Application tiled February To .ff/7 whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l. Jenn H. STONE. citizen of the United States.,residing at Buffalo in the county of Erie .and State of New York, haveinvented certain new and useful improvements in Roller Awnings. of whichthe following is a specification.

rlhis invention relates to an improvement in roller awnings and moreparticularly to means for regulating the operation thereof.

Certain of the objects of this invention are to provide means which willprevent the loweringand raising of such an awning by a continuedrotation of the awning roller in the same direction by positivelystopping such rotation when the foot rod has reached a position alreadypredetermined; which will consequently insure uniformity in appearanceand regulate the tension on the 'awning fabric; which will prevent anyundue strain upon the side wings; and which can be quickly and securelyadjusted.

Other objects will appear from an examination of the 'followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawings whichform a part thereof and in which Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a rollerawning provided with one embodiment of this invention Fig. 2 is anenlarged plan view of the embodiment of this invention taken along theline 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of such embodiment; j

Fig. 4 is a transverse longitudinal section taken along the line 4-4 ofFig. 2;

Fig. 5 is another longitudinal section taken along the line 5-5 of Fig.2; and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross section of the awning roller andintermediate support taken along the line 6-6 of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 shows somewhat diagrammatically aroller awning installation of the usual type with which is assembled aregulating device designated by the numeral 10 which embodies one formof this invention. y

This awning installation comprises the roller 11 to which one end of theawning fabric 12 is secured. A foot rod 13 hinged by any suitable meansto the building on which the awning` is installed is secured to thefabric near the bottom. The roller 11 is operated by a vertical shaft 14having at its upper end a gear 15 in mesh with a 8, 1922. Serial No.5371.598.

gear 16 on the roller. A gear box 17 actuated by a handle 18 is suitablyjoined to the lower end of the shaft 14. The lroller 11 is supported ateach end by straps or sockets 19 and intermediate its ends by a bracket2O which almost completely encompasses the roller and the fabric aroundit.

Side wings 12A separate from the main fabric 12 are fastened at theirupper ends to the building and at their lower ends to the foot rod 18.Thus when an awning having these side wings is lowered the descent ofthe foot rod will be stopped when the side wings are taut. ln order torelieve these wings from undue strain and to insure that the foot rodwill always stop at the same point whether or not the awning includesside wings the regulating device forming the subject of this inventionis used.

This regulating device 10 comprises a threaded rod 21 pinned at itslower end to a socketed connector 22 which turns with a squared bar notshown projecting from the bon 17. At the upper end of the shaft is a cupshaped member 23 through which it is joined to .the rod 21. Mounted onthe rod 21 is a nut 24 here shown as of rectangular contour.

Surrounding the rod 21 is a casing comprising a back plate 25, and afront plate 28; the former having an upper central forward projection 26through a hole 27 in which the shaft 14 extends into engagement with therod 21. The front upper edges of the plate 25 and the front and sideedges of the projection 26 have flanges 29 which overlap the upper edgesof the front plate 28, thus protecting the interior from rain or snow.The plate 28 is U-shaped and has flanges 30 at each sidel of the centralportion, which flanges are secured to the back plate 25. The side walls32 of plate 28 provide a pocket S1 for the rod 21 and nut 24 when thecasing is assembled. As shown particularly in Fig. 4 the side walls 32of the pocket are substantially in contact with two opposite flat sidesof the nut 24 hence the nut is held from rotation with the rod 21 butmust travel axially thereon. For example Figs. 4 and 5 show two of thedifferent positions which will be assumed by the nut.

The bracket 20. see Fig. 6, comprises a plate 33 having upper -and lowercurved arms 84 and 35 respectively between the outer ends of which isthe throat or opening 36. The arms extend above and below out above.

- The end the roller 11 and carry a plurality of rolls 37 which contactwith the awning fabric. The fabric on the roller is led to and from theupper side as shown in vFig. 6 and is guided by the rolls 37 l 34C.v Inorder to keep the fabric elven and smooth it is the practice to providesurplus material which is at all times kept wound upon the roller. Y,Before discussing-. the operation of the regulating device whichembodies thesubject matter of this'invention it will be of advantage toconsider the oaeration of a roller awning installation such as is shownin Fig. 1, not Aequipped with this device, thegear box 17 being directlyconnected to the gear 15 by the shaft 14. By turning the handle 18 inthe proper direction the roller 11 is rotated to release the fabric 12which, by the weight of the foot rod 13, is lowered to the' positionshown in Fig. 1.- If, instead of stopping at that point the rotation ofthe roller 11 is continued the foot rod, if there be no side winos, willdrop a trifle lower and then stop because its hinge connections will notermit it to go further. The fabric 12 wi l, however, continue to unrolluntil only theinner end Which is fastened to the roller remains. Ifvtherotation of the roller is continued the fabric will be wound up again onthe roller, this time in the. opposite direction so that instead ofpassing through the throat 36 tothe upper side of the roller asin Fig. 6the fabric will `pass to the lower side. of the lower arm 35 will'thusrub against the fabric every time the awning is raised or lowered andafter short time, unless the fabric is rewound so that it feeds Vto andfrom the upper side, this `friction will wear a hole completely through.If side v vings are provided the foot rod Vwill not descend beyond thepoint at which these wings are taut but the fabric will continue tounroll and will be removed as pointed This is not a mere theoreticalsupposition but is a condition which arises toooften yand which is one.of the object-ions eliminated by the use ofthis invention.

Atfter the regulatingdevice has been con nectedto the shaft 14 betweenthe gear box 17 and the gear 15 andthe rear plate has been firmlyfastened to the. building lby screws through the holes 3 8 the outerplate 28 is removed. The awning isgthen lowered tothe lowest positiondesired and when this is reached ythe nut 2li which is now freey torotate onor with the rod 21 is turned untilIit bears against the top ofthe connector 22-'with two paralle-lsides at right angles to the backplate. The front plateis'now vseouredin any suitable way such as bybolts .through the holes 39 to the back plate with the nutA 24 in thepocket on the upper arm.

an opening through 3:1. As shown in the nut contacts with the sides ofthe pocket 31 so -that itcannot rotate but will move axially nector 22.VThen this positionis reached the nut absolutely prevents any furtherlowering of the awning and obviouslynecessi tates that any furtherturning of the handle be in the opposite direction,` thus eliminatingany possibility of further unrolling the fabric or of winding it up onthe roller other than in the way shown in Fig. 6. Moreover thisregulating device relieves the gears in the box 17 from strain and incase anything gives way andthe awningjstarts to lower the foot 'rod willbe stopped so that the side wings will not be torn from their fasteningsor the awning fabric be torn from the roller.

l/Vhile one embodiment only of this in forced by its .engagement withtheV rodto descend until it rests on the con vention has been shown anddescribed am not to .be limited thereby since it is obvious that otherembodiments can be made without departing from the spirit andY scope ofthe invention as set forth-in the following claims.

Having thus described my inventionthat which I claim as sire theprotection of Letters Patent of the nited States is the following:

1. In a roller awning installationjinclud'- ing a roller,4 operated by arotatableshaft, aA threadedrod connected to andin line with said shaft,a nuton Ysaid rod, a two part casing enclosing said rood and nut, one

new and for which I de-V part when removed permitting rotation of saidnut upon or withsaid rod and when replaced prevent-'ing such movement.'i

2. In a roller awning Yinstallation includinga roller, operated by arotatable shaft7 af threaded rod connected toy andin line withvsaidshaft, anut on said rod, a two part casing enclosing said rod ,.and nut7one part projecting over said rod andhaving whichy saidv shaft eX- tendsinto YengagementV with said .rod1 and 1 the other part including apocket which engages said nut and prevents any movement thereof relativeto said rod other than axial, said parts being separable to permit thefree rotation ofthe nut on saldprod in order to adjust the length of itsaxial movement.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature. j

- ,Y JOHN n. sToNE.

